Do you have endless research notes but still can't solve your research puzzle? Experienced researchers use timelines when they are challenged to gather needed facts about an individual. A timeline is a research tool in which information is organized in chronological order, making its content easy to read and review.

A timeline has many research benefits including the following:

A timeline helps to organize an ancestor's life events in chronological order.

A timeline helps to show gaps, overlapping events, conflicting data, areas that need more research, as well as areas that have been missed.

The structure of a timeline often helps to identify areas that could hold the keys to breaking "Brick Walls." For that very reason, a timeline should be the first tool used in creating an effective "Brick Wall" research strategy.

When planning and writing a person's life history, having a well-developed timeline can provide clarity and direction while facilitating the entire research project.

To obtain the best results in using a timeline, identify the areas you want to cover. The list may grow and/or shrink as you research, but having a plan will produce greater results. Some topics to consider are, birth, siblings, marriage, death and burial information,children, locations of events, military service, occupation(s), land purchases and sales, community service, medical information, legal events, historical events, etc. Some researchers prefer to start the timeline with the individual's parents' names, marriage date and place.

Timelines can be made simply with a piece of paper and a ruler, but a computerized template can then be saved, printed, shared, and filled out. It also has the advantage of being correctable online and usable on other devices such as a laptop, flash drive, Dropbox, smart phone, etc.

The following timeline example was created in Microsoft Word -Tables. Copy this one or experiment to create the format that works best for you. If you use Excel, by all means consider using it. (New Information--FamilySearch recently added a class called 'Using Excel to Create Timelines." This is a 20 minute video class found under "Learn" at the top of the home page when you go into FamilySearch. From "Learn"go to "Research Courses" The "Learning Center" will come up. Type in the class name "Using Excel to Create Timelines." This class may also still be in the list of new classes at the bottom right of the opening page of the Learn Center. If you want a fast path to the video, clickhere